जै · The Jain Encyclopedia
The end of the universe · where the medium of motion ends

Lokānta

लोकान्त

The top of the loka is not a ceiling. It is where the substance that makes motion possible runs out, and a rising soul stops there the way a fish stops at the edge of the water.

Everything that moves in the Jain universe moves through dharmāstikāya, and dharmāstikāya fills exactly the loka. Beyond it is aloka, space with nothing in it and no way to cross it. So the freed soul rises to the last space-point of the loka and rests, one yojana above the Siddhaśilā, in the region the texts measure as 333⅓ dhanuṣ.

This is the edge the whole atlas has drawn from its first map without saying why it is there. The six substances are a chapter of their own; this entry is its door.

One samaya, straight upTattvārthasūtra 10.5–7: the freed soul rises to the loka's end, without a turnit stops because the medium of motion stops, not because anything is in the wayaloka - space, and nothing elselokānta - the medium of motion endsthe siddhas: 333⅓ dhanuṣSiddhaśilāthe place of nirvāṇaone samaya, straight upŚAILEŚĪ · THE FOURTEENTH RUNGaiufive short vowels: the only clock the texts give itTHE FOUR LIKENESSES · TATTVĀRTHASŪTRA 10.7the potter's wheelpūrva-prayoga · the impulse already given keeps it turningthe gourd freed of its clayasaṅga · nothing clings, so it comes up through the waterthe castor seed from its podbandha-cheda · the bond cut, it springsthe flametathā-gati-pariṇāma · its nature is to go upTHE SIDDHA'S EXTENT - AVAGĀHANĀ: TWO-THIRDS OF THE LAST BODY, A REGION PERVADED, NOT A BODYṚṣabhanātha · 500 dhanuṣ → 333⅓ dhanuṣMahāvīra · 7 hāth → 4⅔ hāththe two bars are not to one scale; the descent chapter draws that ratio
One samaya, straight up - Lokānta highlighted

Measurements and counts

What endsdharmāstikāya - the medium of motion
Beyondaloka - space, and nothing else
Above Siddhaśilā1 yojana
The siddhas' region333⅓ dhanuṣ at the very top

Connected

Open in the interactive atlas →

समयं गोयम! मा पमायए

Do not be heedless, Gautama, for even a single samaya.

Uttarādhyayana Sūtra 10